Fotos de Iskcon Hawaii Daily Darshan del álbum Friday, June 10, 200

Bhagavan dâsa Babaji (snake, cat, prasadam, goat)

One day a snake was found inside the asrama and one of the devotees picked it up and threw it away at a safe distance. When Bhagavandâsa came to know about it he was very annoyed and ordered the devotee to leave the asrama and stay away. It is said that the snake happened to be an elder brother of Nama-Brahmah in one of its earlier births. Bhagavandâsa would not take prasada until the snake had taken a portion of it.

Bhagavandâsa regularly took his evening meals after his daily bhajana recitals. On some days he was so absorbed in bhajana that he forgot about his meal, which was usually kept close to his seat. One pet cat of the asrama regularly shared prasada with Babaji, thus when Bhagavandâsa remained absorbed in prayer till late, the cat would mew repeatedly, going around and around Babaji to attract his attention. Bhagavandâsa would lift the lid of the bowl of prasada, allow the pet to help itself and then replacing the lid, continue with his bhajana.

On occasions when Bhagavandâsa failed to derive the inspiration desired from his bhajana, he would advise his devotees to take their meals and on pretext of his own illness, he refrained from eating. If the devotees tried to convince him to eat, Babaji would simply reply: "In that case let us all retire to bed without any meal." Thus the devotees would reluctantly take their meals.

He was a virtuous man both in his practices and behavior. He did not allow any prasada received as offerings, to be placed on the floor unless the devotees mopped the place clean. If a devotee failed to do so, Babaji would pull him up and call him a Mussulman. When flowers or garlands were offered to Bhagavandâsa, he touched them to his forehead with care, making sure the flowers did not come in contact with his garments.

One of his disciples, Viëòudâsa, came down with a fever for three continuous days. When Bhagavandâsa advised his disciple to take medicine the latter said that there was no need to do so as he would be cured by the grace of Nama-Brahmah. Bhagavandâsa angrily remarked that, "A man suffers illness as a part of his penance and should act upon a doctor's advice, rather than pass the responsibility for the disease, and also its cure, to Nama-Brahmah. After all, it is a doctor's job to provide aid to a sick person." Viëòudâsa promptly took some medicine and was cured.

One day while Bhagavandâsa was absorbed in bhajan, he was heard to shout "go away". It came to be known later that he was shouting to scare away a goat which was chewing the leaves of a Tulasi plant in the courtyard of the Govinda temple, far away in Vèndâvana. On that same day the Maharaja of Burdwan, having heard about the powers of Bhagavandâsa, came to Nama-Brahmah Asrama for darsana. It so happened that Maharaja entered the asrama at the same time that Bhagavandâsa shouted, "go away". Naturally, the Maharaja thought that Babaji, for some reason, wanted Maharaja to leave the premises. Thus, in disappointment, he left Nama-Brahmah Asrama.

Afterwards the devotees told Babaji of Maharaja's arrival and why he had left without getting Babaji's darsana. Bhagavandâsa immediately sent a messenger requesting the Maharaja to visit Nama-Brahmah again. When the Maharaja again visited the asrama Babaji begged forgiveness and explained the circumstances which had led to the misunderstanding on Maharaja's previous visit. The Maharaja was understanding, but skeptical as to whether Bhagavandâsa Maharaja actually possessed the power to see something which was taking place in Vèndâvana. To satisfy his own curiosity the Maharaja sent a telegram to Vèndâvana to verify the truth of the incident. The reply corroborated the statement made by Bhagavandâsa. From that time Bhagavandâsa was known as Siddhababa Bhagavandâsa Babaji Maharaja.